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Rome and Pick had been dating officially for almost a month and Pick couldn’t be happier. However something was… off. Rome had been acting weird lately and Pick didn’t know why. Rome always texted him good morning and would try and check on him throughout the day but lately he’s only been texting Pick if he texted Rome first. Which is odd to say the least. Rome is also usually -to put it frankly- clingy as hell, but lately he’ll only be cuddly or intimate when Pick initiates it. Picks starting to wonder if he has done something wrong recently. Or if the thing he’d dreaded most had finally happened… Rome, like everyone else in his life, had finally gotten bored of him. Pick needed to do something and fast. Now that he has Rome he refuses to let him go, if he lost Rome now he doesn’t know what he’d do.
That’s how we ended up with Rome joining him for a very sweet and nice candle lit dinner at Pick’s house. Pick brought out all the stops, balloons, roses, the most expensive wine he could successfully steal from his dad, catering from Rome’s favorite restaurant. All the things he could possibly do to show Rome just how much he loves him. So naturally Rome was suspicious.
“Ok out with it,” Rome blurted out after they had both finished dinner, “I love you and I really appreciate you doing this but it doesn’t really seem like something you’d do, so what is it? What did you do that you shouldn’t have?... or do you want something? If this is you trying to ask for sex you really didn’t have to try this hard, like seriously-”
“-NOTHING. I don't want anything and I didn’t do anything.” he sighed, “Can’t I do something nice for my boyfriend?”
“With all do respect… no.”
Pick looked away from the shorter man and mumbled something under his breath. Rome just looked at him confused.
“You want to try that again I couldn’t quite hear you.”
Pick sighed rubbing a hand over his face before looking at Rome. “You’ve been distant lately.” he paused, “You only text me when I text you back, you never call first anymore and only want to do anything or go out if I initiate first. It’s like you're pulling away from me,” Pick was very pointedly staring at the wall above Rome's head to avoid having to look at his boyfriend, “Did I do something wrong? I know I’m not the most pleasant person to be around and I can be kind of grumpy and closed up but I’ve been trying to be a good boyfriend. I’ve never really dated anybody before you, nobody has ever wanted to stay around as long as you.” he pauses, closes his eyes and takes a breath that sounded waterier than he’d anticipated, “Is there anything I can do to make sure you're happy? Is there anything I can do to make sure you st-”
“P’Pick,” Rome's voice interrupts him, sounding tinier than usual, as he feels a hand on his face, wiping away a tear he didn’t know was there, he opens his eyes to see the smaller man kneeling on the floor next to his chair, “Don’t cry. Please I’m sorry. I don't mind that you’re grumpy and ‘difficult’ that’s what makes you you. But you’re not just grumpy, you’ve got a lot of… layers... like an onion… or shrek,” he giggled weakly before reaching and grabbing the older man's hands, “And I love each and everyone of those layers but, you’re right I have been acting a little… distant lately… but not because of anything you’ve done I promise. ”
Pick tilted his head in confusion, “Then why?”
“I was worried I’d scare you off.”
“ whAt?”
“ I’ve been told by a lot of people, my parents, my aunts and uncles, my friends at school, other guys, that I can be often be… too much,” he looks away with a sad smile on his face that makes Picks protective instincts scream, “ too talkative, too annoying, too clingy, too soft, too aggressive, too needy, too attached, too passionate, too loud, too silly, too intense, too…” he chuckles weekly again, eyes hazy with unshed tears, “ you get the picture. I have a tendency to be a lot, and I know I was kind of aggressive in my pursuit of you and you’re very… subdued and mellow and I didn’t want to be too intense with the intensity of my feeling and scare you off so I… pulled back...left the ball in your court so to speak”
For a while Pick doesn’t say anything just trying to soak everything in. And then he laughs and Rome wants to cry. Rome buried his head in Pick lap and whined, “I know it sounds stupid now that I said it out loud but that doesn’t mean you have to laugh at me asshole.”
Pick just smiles more at his adorable boyfriend and rubs his hair with the free hand that said boyfriend isn’t currently holding, “sorry I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at the both of us.”
Rome lifts his head up from Pick’s thigh and tilts his head in confusion like an adorable puppy, “explain please.”
“We’re both idiots. We were both worried that the other would leave us because of the things that attracted us to each other in the first place.” Rome's confusion was still visible on his face so Pick continued, “As you stated you like my grumpiness and all of the onion layers that lie underneath,” he paused before adding in a complete tone changer, “I can’t believe yo fucking compared me to Shrek, in my own house,” this achieved his desired goal of making the smaller man genuinely smile and laugh again so he would count that as a win, “anyways as I was saying my Fiona , I was worried you’d eventually hate grow to hate that about me and leave like everyone else, and you were worried that you’d be too much and I’d run correct?”
Rome nods.
“What you failed to understand is that if you weren't ‘too much’ I wouldn’t be here with you right now. If you weren’t so ‘aggressive’ and ‘annoying’ and ‘persistent’ I probably never wouldn’t have ever admitted my feelings for you. I probably wouldn’t have realized I was queer until years in the future where I was unhappily married to some random woman who didn’t love me and I realized all I missed on. If yo weren’t so talkative I would so fucking bored, If you weren’t so clingy I wouldn’t know that I always had someone who genuinely wants me around.” Pick slid out of his chair to kneel on the floor with his boyfriend placing his hands gently on his shoulders giving him a light shake, “ If you weren’t ‘too much’ you wouldn’t be Rome. And I don’t want you to be anyone else, because the only person I want to be with right now is Rome. Just like the only person you want to be with right now is Pick. Warts and all.”
Rome smiled and lunged at him in a hug, tackling Pick to the ground, and kissing him on the neck “Who are you *kiss* and what *kiss* have you done *kiss* with my boyfriend? *kiss* Seriously *kiss* when did you get so insightful?”
Pick just laughed, “Let’s just say I met someone who made want to stop running away from my thoughts”
Rome lifted his head up, smiling the beautiful smile that could cure cancer and Pick back pain, “So maybe a little change is good. But like… not changing for your partner, just like… changing to be the best you you can be that just so happens to be inspired by your partner.” He beams feeling very proud of himself for coming up with that and Pick is inclined to agree, he has a very smart boyfriend. “You’ve changed in that you actually say how you feel and… admit that you have feelings, and I… instead of toning it down… maybe I’ll just occasionally check in and make sure that I haven’t done anything that was ‘too much’ or crosses any boundaries”
Pick nods in agreement, “The lesson of the day kids is ~communication~” and then pulls the small man on top of him down into a kiss.
After just straight up making out on Picks kitchen floor Rome remembers he needs to breathe and separates himself from his boyfriend. “To start out my new check ins… would it be too much if I were to let’s say… suck your dick right here on your kitchen floor…”
Pick just stares at him, moth closing and opening like a fish before nodding, “n-n-no ughhh… actually that would be just enough. Actually hell you're so far away from too much you could actually do more… A LOT more.” he said before going to unbutton his pants.